Why Doug? Why?

My theory is that they feel they 'have' to start him because they traded their starting center to get Hawes and spent all summer raving about him and in their addled minds (they're all pretty old over there) they think that no one will notice what a terrible mistake they've made as long as they keep trotting him out there to start.

They've made a (huge) tiny mistake and they're just to proud (or stupid) to admit it.

Mostly agree here. Also, it's possible that Stefanski, Collins, or even Thorn are holding out hope that Hawes will improve. Also maybe they want to see him on the floor just long enough to be sure that they should have absolutely no interest in re-signing him. The notion of the Sixers offering him a contract in the offseason is of course laughable to us, but then again, the Sixers have close to zero useful bigs on the roster, so maybe the brass is clinging to some delusion that Hawes will turn it around.

Zumoff was coyly suggesting last night that Speights didn’t play against Cleveland because of disciplinary reasons. At least that’s how I interpreted it. I can’t think of a single reason Hawes is starting though.

Great points. To be fair, I'm sure Spencer Hawes has got some other hidden talents -- maybe he has a knack for plumbing, or a green thumb. But playing basketball clearly isn't something he's very good at, and I can't imagine why he's starting in the NBA, even for a team as bad as us. And the Speights issue is important. There must be more behind the scenes, but for his minutes to be this scarce, and not to have even gotten on the floor in the Cavs game, it doesn't add up.

Maybe Collins just thinks Speights could play better with motivation and Hawes is playing close to his talent level? Maybe Speights is obviously goofing off and Collins thinks starting him sends a bad message while Hawes is better at faking the appearance of working?

No doubt, I had no illusions about this team making the playoffs, I figured they'd be lucky to match last years win total with the new center nonsense.

Point is, honestly, that Hawes is terrible, there's no justifiable reason for him playing more minutes than Speights, even if it's motivational, Speights I'm sure out plays Hawes in practice. A drunk monkey would out play hawes in practice cause hawes sucks

It's at least amusing that in the Sixers' two wins, Hawes managed to be -5 in a 26-point win vs. the Pacers and -13 in a 10-point win vs. the Knicks. His "On Court" number of -20 points per 100 possessions is just astounding ...

the only reason I can think of to start Hawes is to keep Speights hungry. I think the front office and coaching staff is now resigned to the fact that Hawes sucks and will be gone by the summer. However, Speights could still turn out to be a pretty good basketball player if he puts it together. So if I'm Doug Collins I prioritize that. This season IS about development after all. It's hard to justify Hawes starting when we're not seeing better results from Speights right now, but I think that may be just around the corner.

I think I'm going to watch a lot of UNC and Baylor games this year. I've decided that I think management feels like taking a stab at the OKC model, hoping to add Barnes/Jones to the Holiday and Turner nucleus. Then look to trade Iggy for front court help.

That's really the only way I can rationalize how awful it was to gut their interior like they did. A dramatic step backwards to make them markedly better in the future...

With this season being about development, maybe Collins cares about effort and work habits. If Speights has disciplinary problems and is not taking practice seriously, then I'm fine with playing the much less talented Hawes instead of him.

Also, for all of you that do no like the Dalembert trade, could you please explain to me what exactly are the downsides of it. I know that we could have won 10 (15? 20?) more games this season, but that does not seem to me like a big enough reason to hate the trade. What else am I missing?

I think both Speights and Hawes needs to go. Speights had enough time in this league to see what he is which is a gunner that doesn't defend and is lazy with a bad work ethic. Hawes is just a bad player period. Get rid of both of them!

Speights is in his 3rd year under a rookie deal and it would be foolish to just 'dump' him because he still might get it and has one more year of cheap labor. Don't give him an extension but getting rid of him before his rookie contract is up just to get rid of him makes no sense